By: Serach Nissim
Financier Tom Barrack, the 74-year-old who had served as a vital ally for President Trump in his 2016 campaign and in his early presidency, is now facing charges of acting as an illegal agent of the UAE, among other criminal allegations.
As reported by the Financial Times, Barrack, a Lebanese-American and the prominent founder of Colony Capital, pleaded not guilty last month in a federal court in New York. His top aide, Matthew Grimes, was also charged. Barrack has vowed to prove his innocence, saying, “The Statue of Liberty . . . is made of steel with a patina of copper. We’re in the middle of a very heated moment and I can only tell you that the hardest steel is forged from the hottest fire.”
The case may shine light on a period in Trump’s presidency when freewheeling American diplomacy overlapped with efforts by the UAE and other Middle Eastern nations to achieve influence over the US, after years of spotty relations with the Obama administration. It may also reveal the degree to which wealthy Trump aides may have applied a hidden influence on US foreign relations. In Barrack’s case, it is possible that there were prior ties with the UAE’s ruler, Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
As per the Financial Times, prosecutors accuse Barrack of trying to place ideal candidates into strategic US diplomatic positions for Abu Dhabi’s advantage, allegedly abusing his power in Washington to gain support for Emirati priorities. The charges pointed to dozens of text messages that Grimes received in 2017, in which Barrack allegedly set up media appearances with the UAE and lobbied in Washington on their behalf. The alleged crimes are “nothing short of a betrayal of . . . officials in the United States, including the former president,” said Mark Lesko, a US Department of Justice attorney who leads the national security division.
In his role as a Trump aide, Barrack had been instrumental in raising tens of millions of dollars for the long-shot presidential campaign. In the early stages of the divisive presidency, when Trump had enacted the unpopular travel ban, barring many Muslims from entering the US, it was Barrack who had calmed people down, with his televised speech. “[Trump] was elected because [a] segment of America is fed up with the consistency and transparency of the elitists,” Barrack had said. “The only way to end radicalism is to help ‘good’ Islam”, he had added. Barrack had a long standing working relationship with the president, which went back to the 1980s when he had sold Trump a $400 million hotel.
